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WISDOM FOR 
THE WISE 

A BOOK OF PROVERBS 

By 
LORENZO SOSSO 

Author of 
Proverbs for the people 



Wisdom for the wise — who need it 
More than the babes to whom we feed it. 



New York 

Dodge Publishing Company 

220 East 23d Street 



iLmflARYofCONGRESst 
Two CoDies Receivod 

SEP 190/' 

^ Copyrrrht Inliy 

COPY B. 






Copyright, 1907, by 
Dodge Publishing Company 



The present volume contains a numerous se- 
lection from the author's "Proverbs of the 
People'' and "Wisdom for the Wise" with 
the addition of more than fifty new and or- 
iginal proverbs nozv published for the first time. 




Many a delicate suggestion 

Has helped a man to ''pop" the question. 






The gift the fool refuses 

Is that which wisdom chooses. 






We all consider venial 
A vice we find congenial. 





here's little of divinity 
In modern feminity. 






If all would practice what they preach 
There would be no one left to teach. 






The noblest life — the life of labor; 
The noblest love — to love your neighbor. 






A dole of thanks, though but a pittance, 
Assists in gratitude's acquaintance. 



They only who have loved or haled 
Know the full meaning of mismated, 






We always play the game to win, 
We never think about the sin. 






Seen through a sceptic's prism 
Religion is a schism. 



A little indiscretion 

Is every man's possession. 




No sin will need acquittal 
Which never knew committal. 





Lament the present not the past 
If few of Fortune's gifts thou hast. 






Rich, poor, or proud or gifted, 

All through Death's sieve are siftedo 






Some women are a blessing: 
The others — keep you guessing! 






Insult not through indignity 
Youth's dreams or old's benignity. 





"Work that is play, and play that is 

work;" 
The wisdom of life is neither to shirk. 

Tested in Mammon's crucible 
To what is Love reducible! 

'Tis strange with what asperity 
We entertain sincerity. 





The virtue of society 
Is certainly not piety. 

Hdom is martyrdom attended 
I By any pomp or pageant splendid. 

Too many maidens think of marriage 
As of a journey in a carriage. 

Even the greatest wisdom fails 
When weighing love in even scales. 

However great, however little, 

All gods made out of clay are brittle. 



Nothing can be more hateful 
Than friendship turned ungrateful. 



f^ 5<$* 



Cunning has always cheated 
Those who are most conceited. 






What glittering generality 
We make of liberality 






We easily dissever 
Performance from endeavor 



A hundred years of slight 
Make not one hour of Right 






Death speaks the valedictory 
To Life's defeat or victory. 

Do thou good deeds; and in the doing 
Remember they will bear renewing. 

Much must he deal in courtesies 
Who every one alike would please. 

'Tis deeper wisdom to refrain 
Than to presume to speak in vain. 

A pigmy dwelling with the giants 
Is apt to boast of self-reliance. 




By far more wealth than merit 
The children of the rich inherit. 






Who speaketh with authority 
Still speaks with the minority. 






To charge self-love with blindness 
Is justice but unkindness. 





^^^ It is not only foxes 

Who deal in paradoxes. 



«^ «^ 



Vain is the toil of any man 
Who endeth not what he began. 






Whenever you would give advice 
Be not too liberal; keep a slice. 






'Tis not the splendor of the blade 
Which makes the enemy afraid. 






Some men presume to greatness 
With too austere sedateness. 



They preach of life's amenities 
Who profit by its lenities. 






There is no heavier fetter 
Than that v/hich binds a debtor. 






Upon the peaks of culture 
Vanity is a vulture. 



A little of timidity 
Should temper intrepidity 




A better life of laughter 
May better life hereafter. 





The coward still finds cause to fear 
Though danger may be never near. 

Seek not all wisdom in a well, 
The stars have also things to tell. 

The foolish are contented 

When by a fool they're represented. 

They who spend life in dancing 
Are seldom found advancing. 

Better to speak a platitude 
Than not express your gratitude. 





According as you may contrast 
The petty changes to the vast. 






Pride always finds a sumptuous niche 
In the heart of a beggar grown suddenly 
rich. 






When Love grows too observant 
It ceases to be fervent. 





■^ 



'Tis only his reverses 
The speculator curses. 

greatness were enough for one 
The cow would soon the h-ire outrun. 

There's many torments waiting 
A tongue too prone to prating. 

Sessions presided o'er by hate 
Never see cause to arbitrate. 

Always the greatest quack 'tis 
Who boasts about his practice. 



God's precept only mattered 
Until fair Eve was flattered. 



t?* c5* 



A compromise, however bad, 
Is better than a lawsuit had. 






The rock of faith is founded 
Upon a sea unsounded 






The folly of a jester 

Speaks often words that fester 



I Pity the man whose trust is 
I That lawyers deal in justice 




y 







This is the law by which to live — 
To give to get ; to get to give. 






If only given the occasion 

A sinner does not need persuasion, 






To misconstrue veracity 
Is deemed in law sagacity. 

Make of Adversity a friend, 

Much precious lore hath she to lend, 

It is the wise man's folly 
Which makes fools melancholy. 





Give not the praise of meekness 
To indolence or weakness. 



jT ^ 



Better a mite of gumption 
Than mountains of presumption. 






Millions are spent for pride: a pence 
Suffices for benevolence. 





To trust to an illusion 
Is reason in confusion. 

With genius a disease or blunder 
There's little left in life of wonder. 

Virtue should be commended 
Although from vice descended. 

The hate of man is frightful: 
The hate of woman spiteful. 

Dilute with some discreetness 
Love's honey-cup of sweetness. 



If manners will not make a man 
Effrontery surely never can. 






Better poor independence 
Than royalty's resplendence. 






The road of the friendless 
Is lonely and endless. 



Poison is in the chalice 
Touched by the lips of malice. 




The cap for all humanity 
Of universal fit is — Vanity. 





All wisdom to be popular 

Must learn the art of being jocular. 

There is a law for each occasion. 
Another law for its evasion. 

No wind is good of any sort 

To him who steereth for no port. 

'Tis when we toil for guerdon 
That virtue seems a burden. 

If death were less procurable 
Life would seem more endurable. 





He leads a life precarious 
Whose scorn of man is various. 






What profits it to experiment 
Upon the cause of merriment? 






Not always every deed that's glorious 
Is morally as meritorious. 





No interdict can leaven i 
The charity of heaven. 



Some sinners would adventure 
To sign a saint's indenture. 



It would be folly for the rabbit 
To mask itself in lion's habit. 

'Tis fear as much as feeling 
Compels a sinner's kneeling. 

Many a seed worth sowing 
Has proved a weed in growing. 



If quality be Nature's law 

Then Jacob still should rule Esau. 






How true! we cry, how striking! 
Some pathos to our liking. 






What's worth the cost of gaining 
Is also worth retaining. 



Character, not features. 
Distinguishes God's creatures. 




Sympathy should outrun 
The fleet steeds of the sun 





I hold it still 'permissable 

To kiss a woman — if she's kissable. 






The weathercock upon the steeple 
Is not the pastor of the people. 






'Tis not by mental churning 
That men increase their learning. 






We're always sure of winning 
The game from the beginning. 






Why should it seem surprising 
To find Wealth patronizing? 



1^ 




That mountains are removeable 
Must still remain unproveable. 

A landmark good protection yields 
Though placed between two brothers' 
fields. 



Man's greatness and endurance 
Need no divine assurance. 





An amity convivial 
Is generally trivial. 



-K 






any a present mystery 
Will solve man's future history. 

The beauty of a building 
Is not alone its gilding. 

A brave man never pauses 
To know^ w^hat valor's cause is. 

However much a beggar choose 
A fortune is not his to lose. 



We may die with thirst at the brink of 
The fountain we once scorned to drink of. 

AH men are dreamers — but a fraction 
f'ulfill the dreams of men with action. 



Quickly is love's duration reckoned; 
With woman a minute, with man a 
second. 



Many a costly jewel 
Has Folly used for fuel 




The followers of Hypocrisy 
Can form no aristocracy. 





For every grain of common sense I 
The heaps of folly are immense. 



«5W t.7* 



Think not all playthings are for boys; 
The oldest dotard hath his toys. 






Who buys nor pays for what he got 
May sell what he would rather not. 






Who would lick honey from a thorn 
Will soon have cause enough to mourn 





Let not the wise spurn fools in speech ; 
What better pupils could they teach? 






At many a joyful meeting 

There is some heart with sorrow beating. 






Beware of prophets too spectacular 
However much oracular. 





Men in opinion vary, , 
But women are contrary' 






A fool, however young in years, 
Knows some things better than the seen 



The earth no worse a water keepeth 
Than that which in the shadow sleepetif 






Wisdom begat but children twain. 
And one is Joy, and one is Pain. 



Too oft the hand which wears a glove 
Knows neither charity nor love. 






Folly sometimes an audience draws 
Where Wisdom vainly pleads its cause. 






O vain pursuit! to angle for a fish 
Which would not fill the poorest b( 
gar's dish. 






Many an ancient riddle 
Was solved by Nero's fiddle. 






Every one at least a pair 

Of a fool's shoes must outwear 






'Tis sorrow more than jollity- 
Which proves a heart's true quality. 






The art which makes demeanor gracious 
Oft makes the character mendacious. 






Vain thought to make the wisest laugh, 
The cow thinks she was ne'er a calf. 






The riddle of many a name unnoted; 
A pearl will sink where a leaf has floated. 




,n^ 




A woman's tongue can raise more clamor 
Than even Vulcan with his hammer. 



3 s 



The more 'tis rainbows that we chase 
The more we madden in the race. 



^ s 



Man's faith in his futurity 
Is a bond without security. 





Ignorance misguided 
Should never be derided. 






Whether we lead or lag behind it 

We leave the world much as we find it. 






^ How great their folly who suppose 
The thorn adds richness to the rose. 






Life is a game: though none gainsay it, 
How very few know how to play it! 



'Tis but a poor repentance 
Which follows after sentence. 



The title of respectable 
Makes life to some delectable. 




To call a goose a gander 
Is but perverting slander. 



T 





The jackass still rejoices 

To hear his brethren's voices. 



Who ever woman courted 
Has often truth distorted. 



Base is he who despises 

The means by which he rises. 




I>s. 







It is not virtue singly 

Can make man s nature kingly. 



^ ^ 



How many world-exalted 
Have from their fame defaulted. 





__ — =_=_ — = — =^ 

The beauty of a sermon , 
Is not in stole or ermine. ! 



Only strong natures can support 
Prosperity of every sort. 






The fox can with facility 
Assume the garb humility. 



Kings dignify their station 
But not their occupation. 



«,§• ^ 



Tis useless seeeking nettles 
Within a lily's petals. 

The victims of obesity 
Make virtue of necessity 









The devil laughs who audits 
Man's mortuary plaudits. 



«^ tiX 



'Tis not in haunted houses 
The devil most carouses. 






Not all the Lord's anointed 
Are chosen or appointed. 





Think not by beating of a drum 

That fame and wealth to :hee will come, 



«<5w ^* 



Truth is Truth, irrespective 
Of personal invective. 





If lacking in ability 
Redeem it with civility. 






Better be poor and needy 
Than gourmandized and greedy. 



«Jw 4$5 



We often are indebted 

To things we have regretted. 






When fools have come to blows 
Only a fool will interpose. 






'Tis from the wealth of sages 
The world pays folly's wages. 






We clothe both truth and fable 
In ermine or in sable. 




Better equivocating 

Than quarreling in debating. 

No woman's beauty surely 
Was born to die obscurely. 





'Tis nothing new or novel I 

To find a genius in a hovel. 






When wrongs are to be righted 
Law should be expedited. 



When charity extending 
Don't seem too condescending. 

What is the world's derision 
To him who hath the vision? 

Love whose affection ranges 
Is soon a love which changes. 





Beauty too overweening 

Is hardly worth the gleaning. 






There Is too much disparity 
Between good-will and charity. 






The wisdom that forestalleth 
Is oft the first that falleth. 





The spirit of negation 
Is not renunciation. 






The virtues that we nourish 
Are those most apt to flourish. 






God weigheth in the balance 
Man's virtues not his talents. 






We seldom think it curious 
That poets are penurious. 



From every gnomic statement 
Reason exacts rebatement. 






Some men require no schooling 
To learn the art of ruling. 






Following Fortune's calling 
Is certainly enthralling. 



Silence hath many ways 
For winning wisdom's praise^ 




Absence makes many wandei 
Instead of growing fonder. 





Many a stupid blunder 

Has filled the world with wonder. 






A single penny fairly got 

Is worth a thousand that are not 






The steps are better counted 
After they are surmounted. 






When folly is commended 
What fool can feel offended? 



^ 



The matrimonial function 
Is often Love's disjunction. 





How easily vice can win us 
To waste the good within us, 






Who seeks the joy of giving 
Will know the joy of living. 






Sometimes it proves expensive 
To be too apprehensive. 





God loves hilarity 
Free from vulgarity. 






Who sip the cup of pleasure 
Wail not at overmeasure. 



The creed which needs apology 
Is but a poor doxologj;. 

Misfortune maketh stumble 
The great more than the humble. 

Why men are not more sensible 
Is still incomprehensible. 



Both cowardice and cunning 
Are very apt at running. 






Travel with an attorney 
May prove a costly journey 






There is no perpetuity 
To human ingenuity. 






It would be detrimental 
To the tiger to be gentle 






It is the eagle's pinions 
Which give it wide dominions, 






The more covetous the wish 
The more grievous is the dish. 






All women soon discover 
The way to win a lover. 





^1f' 



To delicately cast aspersion 
Is smart society's diversion. 






'Tis only in Life's sequel 

That kings and clowns are equal, 





Credulity still fosters 
Society's impostors. 






Law with mysterious shuttle 
Forever weaves rebuttal. 






A superstition deeply rooted 
Cannot be easily refuted. 






Some novels called romantic 
Seem folly growing frantic. 






No want of will will always be 
No want of opportunity. 






The greater man's pomposity 
The less his generosity 






It is too late to falter 
When standing at the altar. 

This world is not a boulder 
Carried on God's shoulder. 







The spirit of conformity 

May breed some strange enormity. 



t3* «JS 



Many a saint's reflection 
Would hardly bear inspection. 



«5* «$• 



That cause is seldom moral 
Which instigates a quarrel. 





a 



Some women seem adorable 
Whose morals are deplorable. 



t5* «5* 



This marrying for money 
May not be quite so funny. 





The spirit dutiful 
Is also beautiful. 






Deceit still wears upon her 
The mantle of dishonor. 






No genius merely cynical 

Can stand upon Fame's pinnacle. 



^ ^ 



Not every rill becomes a river; 
Not every arrow leaves its quiver. 






A thousand die of drinking first 
Ere one w^ill die of bitter thirst. 






To build a church or buy it 
Is not to sanctify it. 






The virtue of a woman 
Proclaims her truly human 






The love between the sexes 
The devil still perplexes. 






To win success we must not stack 
Too many burdens on our back. 



{5* t5* 



If poverty could make men cheerful 
Prosperity would feel less fearful. 






Who stirs a pot to make it bubble 
May get a scalding for his trouble. 






How lovingly some people handle 
The tainted morsel of a scandal. 





What lapidary would demolish 

A precious stone for lack of polish? 






It often takes two swords to keep 
Another in its sheath asleep. 





Whatever we embellish 
^^ Rewards us by its relish. 






It will not help your feet to mount 
To look upon the steps and count. 



*$• «i5* 



The fearlessness of many an action 
Springs from man's fealty to faction. 






Who walks the road of splendor 
Must not have feet too tender. 



The merchant thinks commendable 
Whatever goods are vendible. 






Only a fool will care to boast 

Of where his shoe doth pinch the most. 






Alas! for the fate of the social reformer 
Who finds things warm and but mak( 
them warmer. 



t5* «!?• 



Love in its season 

Is love without reason. 

The more a tongue is voluable 
The less its sense is soluble. 







If you're a hero, for example, 

Don't prove it by the worms you trample. 






The devil surely gets his portion 
Without resorting to extortion.. 






We still hold fate accountable. 
For what proves unsurmountable. 






There's many things more edifying 
Than man's precocity in lying. 





When some dead lie is resurrected 
The liar is the most affected. 



t^ 1^ 



The more incredible the fiction 

The greater grows a fool's conviction. 






Persuasion will not wheedle 
The eye-hole from a needle. 





"^ 



To trust to intuition 
v^ Is reason's superstition. 

In Life's great volume every leaf 
Reveals the water-mark of grief. 

Not even fate can claim control 
Over man's fortitude of soul. 



Mankind should never lengthen 
The arm it helps to strengthen. 



Because a sword is pliable 
Proves not 'tis unreliable. 






In law too little brevity; 
In love too much of levity 






The gift is not the donor, 
The giving not the honor. 




14 




He buys his life too dearly 
Who takes it too severely. 






When going forth to borrow 
Never go forth in sorrow. 






'Tis little use rebelling 
Against our earthly dwelling. 




^Afe. 




Nothing seems less heroical 
Than folly turning stoical. 






'Tis wise to drop the jest 
Then when it pleases best 





Love's greatest price 
Is sacrifice. 






The rainbows of existence 
Are always in the distance. 






Dismiss not with impunity 
The god of opportunity. 



The road to Fruit Forbidden 
Is woefully overridden. 



v$* «<5* 



The gift of prophesying 
Is but the gab of lying. 






A modicum of sauvity 
Can gild even depravity. 




r 




No reason is conclusive 
Whose reasoner is abusive. 






Disputing and borrowing 
Cause bitter sorrowing. 






Never be pusillanimous 
Of being too magnanimous. 





The essence of all holiness 
Is reverence and lowliness. 



t^ «^ 



Dissenters never mention 
The folly of dissention. 





Justice never begrudges 
Compassion to its judges 







The mantle of morality- 
May cover deep rascality. 






Connubial felicity 

Is based on some duplicity. 






Plenty with its bin full 
Thinks Poverty is sinful. 



An oath is not an act of daring; 
There's truer virtue in forbearing. 



V?* t^ 



Defeat becomes a noble master 
When teaching us to shun disaster. 






Not truthfulness but lying 
Needs ever fortifying. 



A virtuous inclination 
Provides but meager ration. 






To-morrow's wealth cannot outweigh 
The priceless value of to-day. 



Linked to a virtue that is vicious 
E'en love itself grows meretricious. 

Folly doth still attend the birth 
Of every mortal on the earth. 

J8 ^ 



The devil's virtuous intention 
Is but a pin-point in dimension. 





Men martyr truth for its conviction 
And yet will crown the works of fiction. 



<^ <^ 



The opulence of a spendthrift son 
Is but the miser's greed outdone. 



<(S» ^ 



That wheel the fastest in its spoke 
Is very often soonest broke. 





A sordid thought 
Is easily bought. 






Who buys hath always eyes too few; 
Who sells, one eye for him will do. 



«^ t^ 



There is dishonor in detraction 
Spoken by either sex or faction. 



«,$• t^ 



This adage learn and treasure long; 
Challenge no fool to do thee wrong. 



The youth is apt to mock at age, 
While folly envieth the sage. 






Sometimes an ounce of knowledge 
Is worth a pound of college. 






That God's ways are inscrutable 
Is certainly irrefutable. 



'Tis folly to importune 
For all the gifts of Fortune. 




Each guide-post of correction 
Points onward to Perfection. 





Who goeth softly safely goes ; 
Wisdom walks on velvet toes. 



'Tis those who trust their all to Chance 
Who think fate rules all circumstance. 

He was not all a fool who blurted, 
^'The devil cannot be converted." 



It is through what they instigate 
Some men succeed in being great. 




i^i^- 




There are some fashions fools Invent 
Which wise men come to supplement. 






They are not always free from care 
Who dance unto some joyful air. 







Friendship who hath two edges 
Is prone to cut its pledges. 





ir 



The virtue of gentility 
Is its respectability. 






To change not always means to better; 
To bend is not to break the fetter. 






Better the envy of the witty 
Than to be looked upon with pity. 






The cap of folly can be fitted 

On many heads both wise and witted. 




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